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Power? Fukushima Update 4am 03/19

I did say this yesterday and it turned out to be false, but here we are again.

From Reuters via BBC

Tokyo Electric Power Co, which operates Fukushima Daiichi, says it has now connected an external power line to its stricken plant and would first supply reactor 2 because it is less damaged, Reuters reports. The power is needed to operate the plant’s badly-needed cooling systems, which were damaged last Friday.

Reuters Article:
TEPCO connects line, can supply power to Daiichi plant http://t.co/mEwGghFIn a statement, the company said, “It planned to supply Unit 2 first, followed by Unit 1, Unit 3 and Unit 4 … because Unit 2 is expected to be less damaged.”

For a little perspective on this, the cooling pumps could be irreversibly damaged and this could potentially do nothing to better the situation, but I’m hopeful.

Update:
5:50am JST 03/19 -4:50pm EST 03/18

From AlJeezera

More on that power cable: Nearly 300 engineers are working to restore power at pumps in four of the reactors. at the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant. Operator Tepco said:

Tepco has connected the external transmission line with the receiving point of the plant and confirmed that electricity can be supplied.

Another 1,480m (5,000 feet) of cable are being laid inside the complex before engineers try to crank up the
coolers at reactor No. 2, followed by 1, 3 and 4 this weekend, company officials added. Laurence
Williams, of Britain’s University of Central Lancashire, said:

If they can get those electric pumps on and they can start pushing that water successfully up the core, quite slowly so you don’t cause any brittle failure, they should be able to get it under control in the next couple of days.

If not, there is an option of last resort under consideration – to bury the sprawling 40-year-old plant in sand
and concrete to prevent a catastrophic radiation release, the method used to seal huge leakages from the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.